Midnight Shuffle
by Areneth
Summary: Minor emergencies, unexpected roommates - it's all Tuvok's fault! Light fluff.


Comfortable.

Warm.

Commander Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager was torn out of a most pleasant dream by a most unlikely sound.

Someone was retching - violently by the sound of it.

He was instantly awake, jumping from his bed and ready to assist, only to run into a most unexpected obstacle - a coffee table.

Swearing loudly, ignoring the pain in his toe, he hobbled through in the dark towards the source of the sound.

This turned out to be a bad idea - as he found out a moment later as he collided with the other occupant of the quarters.

They went down in a tangle of limbs both dazed and equally surprised to find the other.

After a brief struggle, he found himself lying on the floor, panting, his arms and torso effectively immobilised by the weight of the person straddling him.

Though there was only a minimum amount of light available, he was absolutely certain of the identity of his would-be assailant.

The unique scent that now surrounded him, was a dead giveaway.

"Kathryn?" he said, finally finding his voice.

She was instantly off him and on her feet, hugging her nightgown...

"Chakotay?" She whispered, sounding just as surprised as he was.

Why was she in his quarters!?

She was about to say something else when the retching ceased just as unexpectedly as it had started. A male voice could now be heard talking quietly, though the exact words could not be discerned.

Chakotay turned towards the wall where the sound had been coming from, only to face a pair of doors.

Doors which should not have been there.

He took a step back, surprised by his discovery, bumping into Kathryn, who - apparently had had enough.

"Computer Lights!" she ordered none too gently.

Chakotay blinked several times trying to adjust his sight to the sudden change in the light level. His vision finally cleared and he almost wished it hadn't.

He was standing in the middle of Kathryn's bedroom wearing nothing more then his pyjama pants.

"Chakotay?"

He turned towards her, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Hi."

Kathryn was just standing there, breathing hard, still hugging her shoulders, not exactly mad, but clearly expecting an explanation.

"What are you doing here?"

He was thankful she had not mentioned his attire. Why was he here? His mind was still sluggish from sleep. *why was…*

"The Klingons." He blurted, remembering the events of the previous night.

"We had to reassign quarters because of a power failure on decks 5 to 12 after your shift ended."

She was still staring at him.

"B'elanna said it would take hours to get to the bottom of the problem and we had to reassign some of the crew quarters to the Klingons. Tom offered their quarters thinking they wouldn't need it for the night. And then..."

Kathryn raised her hand, cutting him off.

"Let me guess - Tom was wrong and somehow you ended up reassigning them to your quarters." Chakotay pulled on his ear, uncomfortable.

"Something like that."

Fortunateley, Kathryn knew him well. She sighed pulling on her bathrobe and gently but firmly steered him out of her bedroom.

"That still does not explain what you are doing here." She said heading for the replicator while eying the tousled bedclothes on her couch.

"Two cups of herbal tea." Chakotay took the hint and settled on the couch picking up his discarded t-shirt.

"Well?"

"Well, B'elanna being B'elanna overworked herself and nearly collapsed in one of the Jeffries tubes."

"Don't worry, she's fine." He quickly added seeing the worry reflected in Kathryn's eyes. "Doc finally ordered her to take some rest." The pieces were finally starting to come together.

"In her quarters."

"Yeah, in her quarters."

"Full of Klingons."

"Exactly... So I did the only logical thing - I offered her my quarters and sent Tom to make sure she got some rest." He finished pulling the somewhat rumpled T-shirt over his head.

"I would expect nothing less from you." she said handing him the tea with a smile - it was a good sign - he was out of the woods.

"Thanks."

"Chakotay."

If only it was that easy...

"Hmm?"

Kathryn waited for him to make eye contact again before proceeding.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

He sighed.

"It's all Tuvok's fault!"

Kathryn grinned, she couldn't help it - he sounded like a petulant child.

"You always say that!"

Chakotay smiled back at her - he was forgiven.

"Well, it was. Apparently he got Neelix for roommate."

Kathryn raised her eyebrow.

"I swear I had nothing to do with it!... Anyway - his roommate was a bit too...how did he put it... ah yes - exuberant - for him."

"Definitely Tuvok. Very diplomatic - go on. I still don't see how you ended up here?"

Chakotay was pulling on his ear again.

"Well, rather than spend time in his quarters, Tuvok reported for the gamma shift and then told me in no uncertain terms that me falling asleep on the bridge would reflect badly on the crew moral and that it was illogical for me to remain on the bridge as there was no emergency...so…"

"So you found yourself in the same predicament as Tom." She said nodding.

"But I still don't understand...?"

He was blushing. He was sure of it. He could feel the colour rising in his cheeks.

"Well..." he cleared his throat." Tuvok was in charge of the reassignments. He informed me that me sleeping in the ready room was unacceptable and reassigned me -

here."

He couldn't quite meet her eyes. She was going to kill him.

"I swear I was going to get up before you and clear everything..."

A few moments passed with no reaction from her and he couldn't resist taking a peek.

She was sitting across from him, sipping her tea - apparently content.

"Kathryn? Aren't you going to say something?"

She smiled at him.

"What is there to say "roomey"?"

He was more than a little surprised by her attitude - he had expected her to be at least a little angry. Maybe she was still sleepy and hadn't processed what he had said.

"You are taking this awfully well."

She finished her tea putting the cup on the coffee table.

"Chakotay - what would you have me do? Kick you out?"

"Well no, but... I don't know... I thought you would be upset ..."

Her expression did not waver in the slightest. He let his head drop in his hands.

"...I am so tired, I can't think."

He must have dosed off for a moment because next thing Chakotey knew Kathryn was draping the blanket over his shoulders cooing softly.

"Poor old first officer, everyone's picking on him."

"Kath…"

"Na ha, no arguments - Tuvok was right. You do need to sleep."

She gently pushed on his side to get him to lie back down on the couch.

"We can talk in the morning."

"Kay…" he conceded. "Night"

The lights dimmed.

He sighed.

"Oh and Chakotay…"

"Hmm?"

"You never get up before I do."

He could hear the smug smile in her voice. The wench. How did she imagine that that first cup of coffee got made and found its way to her office! He'd let her know who it was that….

But, in the morning. Because, right now…

zzzzzzz


End file.
